ANGORA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Wyoming man has been killed in a collision between his vehicle and a semitrailer in western Nebraska.

The crash was reported a little after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, just north of Angora on U.S. Highway 385. The Nebraska State Patrol says 22-year-old Braxton Fuller was headed north when his vehicle struck the southbound semi. Fuller was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in Casper, Wyoming.

The trucker suffered minor injuries. The patrol identified him as 75-year-old Bernie Wynne, who lives in Scottsbluff.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Many of Nebraska’s neighbors are national leaders in wind energy, and advocates say the state could easily join them.

But as wind energy has grown in Nebraska, so has a fervent resistance from mostly rural landowners and lawmakers who view the turbines as noisy, heavily subsidized eyesores that lead to lower property values.

Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon says many of his constituents strongly oppose any projects that change the ecologically fragile landscape of the Sandhills.

Wind energy supporters say the fears are understandable but largely unfounded. They say wind energy is likely to spread because technological advances have made it cheaper and less reliant on tax credits. Nebraska legislators have passed laws to promote the industry in recent years.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska’s governing board has approved a five-year plan to spend $1.4 million annually to recruit students in countries where the school’s brand has little recognition.

The Board of Regents extended its partnership Thursday with EduCo Global to recruit full-time, degree-seeking students that need help applying and obtaining student visas. The partnership also provides those students with support services after enrollment.

Nebraska System President Hank Bounds says the partnership between the university and the education company started as a pilot program in 2015. The Lincoln campus has enrolled about 250 students over the past two years using EduCo Global from countries like India, Brazil and Indonesia. The university consequently netted an additional $2.1 million in tuition revenue.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A former Scottsbluff High School golf coach accused of sexually assaulting two girls he had coached has pleaded no contest to four counts of first-degree sexual assault.

61-year-old Michael Klein, of Mitchell, entered the plea Friday during a hearing. He had been scheduled for trial later this month.

A no-contest plea is one in which the defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict, but does not admit guilt. The plea is treated by the court as a guilty plea.

Prosecutors say assaults on the first girl occurred between November 2007 and November 2010. The second girl was assaulted between October 2015 and July 2016.

___

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Air travelers in Iowa and eastern Nebraska will soon see new nonstop flights offered to and from Philadelphia.

American Airlines announced this week that it will add new routes from Des Moines International Airport and Eppley Airfield in Omaha to Philadelphia International Airport.

The twice-daily flights will begin May 4.

Philadelphia International Airport is a hub for American, with many flights to countries around Europe.

Frontier Airlines also announced last week it would offer a nonstop flight four times a week from Omaha to Philadelphia, starting April 9.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say AmeriCorps programs in Nebraska will receive grants totaling more than $1.4 million.

Each year ServeNebraska, Nebraska’s volunteer service commission receives funding from the federal agency for volunteering and service programs.

ServeNebraska Executive Director Cathleen Plager says the Corporation for National and Community Service provided about $300,000 less to ServeNebraska than it did a year ago. The amount fluctuates based on what grants ServeNebraska plans to make to organizations. This year’s funds will support 15 programs and 212 AmeriCorps members.

The programs across the state promote youth fitness, college preparation, reducing hunger, environmental stewardship, mentoring, behavioral health and affordable housing.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials say a prison employee has been arrested on suspicion of bringing drugs into the Nebraska State Penitentiary.

A news release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says the State Patrol arrested 33-year-old Jami Cutshall on Friday. She was being held in the Lancaster County Jail on suspicion of unauthorized communications with a committed offender, unlawful acts by a corrections employee and sex abuse of an inmate or parolee.

The release says Cutshall had been a caseworker at the prison since 2015. She has been suspended without pay.

Cutshall’s arrest followed the discovery last week that inmates were using K2, a synthetic marijuana. One inmate required outside medical attention related to the drug use.

Visitation and prisoner movements have since been curtailed as officials investigate.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A legal opinion issued by the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office says nearly $58,000 in payments made to three departing Nebraska Parole Board members for unused sick and vacation time were improper.

The opinion, issued Friday, agreed with a finding by the State Auditor’s Office that the payments should not have been made.

The state auditor in May criticized the agency for making the payments in 2014-15. The chairwoman of the five-member board, Rosalyn Cotton, defended the payouts, saying they had been a longtime practice.

The opinion Friday found that appointed members of the Parole Board do not fit the definition of “state employees,” who are entitled to such payouts when they leave a state job.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two Nebraska Crime Commission employees say in a lawsuit that two western Nebraska sheriffs and a police chief harassed them after grant funding was denied for an anti-drug task force in the area.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Lancaster County District Court by Lisa Stamm and Vanessa Humaran. It says officials using state criminal databases checked the two out in an attempt to discredit and harass them. The two were involved in denying more funding for the Western Nebraska Intelligence & Narcotics Group.

The lawsuit names Cheyenne County Sheriff John Jenson, Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman and Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer. Spencer declined to comment Wednesday. The two other men didn’t immediately returned calls.

Stamm and Humaran are seeking a jury trial and unspecified amounts for damages.

The fledgling field of gene therapy has scored another win: An experimental treatment seemed to help boys with the inherited nerve disease featured in the movie “Lorenzo’s Oil.”

Fifteen of the 17 boys treated in a study had no major disability two years later. Doctors say that is remarkable for a disease that often causes swift decline and kills within a decade.

Until now, the only effective treatment has been a stem cell transplant from a sibling, but few patients have a suitable donor. The experimental therapy, made by Bluebird Bio, may help kids who lack a donor.

Study results were published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine and discussed at a medical conference in Kansas City, Missouri.